diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f18ab25..a72ee43 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -128,6 +128,10 @@ To test if dataset processing works, we can then run:
 ```
 where `DATASET_ID` is replaced by the identifier printed in the previous step.
 
+It is also possible to run the php-api without elasticsearch, this is useful to avoid the considerable overhead of starting the elasticsearch container and creating indices.
+First, ensure that `INDEX_ES_DURING_STARTUP=false` in `config/php/.env` otherwise it will try to connect to elasticsearch and fail.
+Then explicitly specify the compose file so that the `docker-compose.override.yaml` file will be ignored: `docker compose -f docker-compose.yaml php-api -d`.
+
 ### PHP, Parquet and Croissant converter
 If you want to do local development on containers that are part of the docker-compose, you want those containers to change based on your code. You should have the relevant code somewhere on your system. You will need to tell the docker-compose where to find it. You can do so by setting environment variables.
 
diff --git a/docker-compose.override.yaml b/docker-compose.override.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..28aa7f5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docker-compose.override.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+services:
+  php-api:
+    environment:
+      ES_ENABLED: true
+    depends_on:
+      elasticsearch:
+        condition: service_healthy
+
+
+
diff --git a/docker-compose.yaml b/docker-compose.yaml
index ceb5505..278961f 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yaml
+++ b/docker-compose.yaml
@@ -67,9 +67,9 @@ services:
     ports:
       - "8080:80"  # also known as /api (nginx)
     env_file: config/php/.env
+    environment:
+      ES_ENABLED: false
     depends_on:
-      elasticsearch:
-        condition: service_healthy
       database-setup:
         condition: service_completed_successfully
     volumes: